It wasn't meant to turn out this way
by sonorusgoesthesilence
Summary: Entry for beeabeeon49 's 77 Chapter Challenge. The Marauders and Lily have just left Hogwarts - one shots of the next three years. Rating may change.
1. Gold

**AN: This is for beeabeeon49 's 77 Chapter Challenge. I'm doing drabbles (or probably more precisely, a series of one-shots) of the time in between the Marauders' and Lily's graduation and that dreaded Halloween night.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or the world in which he belongs.**

**1: Gold**

Lily lay on her bed, with Marlene next to her. They both had their left hands raised above them, the dim light reflecting off the gold bands on their fingers as they compared and admired them.

"Dear Lord, give me strength," a voice interrupted and they twisted to see Meg rolling her eyes at them from her own bed.

"What?" Marlene asked.

"Please tell me you aren't lying there looking at your engagement rings?"

"So what if we are?" Lily asked defensively.

Meg got saved the trouble of replying as James ran into the tent screaming "The match starts soon, we need to go!"

Lily laughed as her fiancé pulled her up off the bed by her already outstretched arm, gave her a quick kiss and ran back out of the tent, dragging her behind him. Meg and Marlene followed them out where they met their friends.

Sirius Black draped a large England flag around Meg's shoulders as Remus Lupin handed out programmes that he had bought for them all. Remus' girlfriend, Jessie Harris shared out some bottles of water while Steven McKinnon gave Marlene a long kiss that made everyone else turn away, even if coming to the Quidditch World Cup had turned into a quintuple date in the end. James was happy to finally go off towards the stadium, telling Peter Pettigrew and Diddy Prewett to stop reminiscing on Hogwarts Quidditch matches now that they'd all graduated and the World cup was going to be a much better standard.

"Besides, some of us don't have such happy memories of Hogwarts Quidditch seeing as how we never won the Championship," Stevie added with a joking grin, indicating him and Jessie who had both been Ravenclaws whilst all the others were Gryffindors and had won for all six years that James, Sirius and Marlene had been on the House team, an impressive feat considering that few teams would let in three second-years at the same time.

* * *

The match was one of the semi-finals of the Quidditch World cup – the one with England playing in. The Marauders had originally looked into the Final, but it started the day of a full moon so that was out of the question. They'd been quite lucky that England had got through this far, as they hadn't been playing brilliantly in the past few years, and now they just had to hope that they did well enough to beat the Portuguese.

They stood amidst the rest of the English crowds, every so often greeting somebody they knew from Hogwarts as they tried to battle their way to somewhere with a decent view. When they managed that, they could see adverts in French flashing across a large screen. Sirius spent a while moaning that he didn't speak French until Marlene eventually started translating to shut him up.

"See, isn't this better than staring at that ring of yours?" Meg asked Lily as the commentator introduced the players.

"It's a beautiful ring. Shut up, Lita," James said, standing behind Lily and wrapping his arms around her.

"Of course _you_ think it is. You paid what, six thousand galleons for it?"

"Hey, Padfoot, can't you keep your girlfriend under control?" James called over to Sirius who laughed.

"Course not, Prongs. You should know by now that it's always the girls who have control in the relationship."

"Et maintenant," the commentator announced. "Le Souafle est jeté, et le joue commence!"

"You what?" Sirius asked.

"Bloody hell, Sirius, how many Quidditch matches have you seen? They all start the same. You know, with the Quaffle being thrown up. Just watch! You hardly need the commentary," Meg told him, leaning over the barrier in the stands to watch the English Captain speed down the pitch, the Quaffle under his arm.

* * *

The game was probably the best that James had ever seen. It was his third ever international game but the first with England playing and he couldn't help but get excited every time anything happened. He kept an ear out for any mention of the _Vif d'or_ from the commentator as he watched brutal Bludger attacks, spectacular goals and even more spectacular saves. The Seekers occasionally chased each other across the pitch but Lily, searching through her omnioculars, hadn't been able to see the Snitch any of those times and James strongly suspected feints.

Despite James' excitement, the English crowd were very disheartened to be eighty points behind the Portuguese. Marlene had taken to bad-mouthing all of the players on the pitch, other than Bagman who was admittedly playing a gold-standard game of Quidditch. Of course, the fact that she was a Wimbourne Wasps fan had _nothing_ to do with this favouritism.

One of the English Chasers was just taking a penalty following a cobbing from an opponent when once again the Seekers pulled forwards on their brooms from opposite sides of the pitch, heading straight towards each other.

"What are they doing?" Peter asked. "They're going to crash."

"No," Lily shook her head, excited. "It's the real thing this time. They've seen the Snitch."

Sure enough the commentator announced: "Les attrapeurs voient le Vif d'or! D'Ouro du Portugal est plus proche, mais Kennedy d'Angleterre le chasse vite. Ils se rapprochent... Et Kennedy a réduit l'écart! Qui l'attrapera? D'Ouro esquive un Cognard de Bagman. Kennedy attrape le Vif d'or! L'Angleterre victoire : cent, quatre-vingt-dix points de cent, vingt points. L'Angleterre sont en finale de la Coupe du Monde!"

"WE WON!" the crowd were screaming all around. The four Marauders were having a group hug whilst Lily and Diddy shrieked with each other, Meg and Jessie waved their flags high, joining in with the chants of the crowd and Marlene jumped onto Stevie's back, him grabbing onto the barrier to stop them both tumbling over.

* * *

Back at the camp, red and white fireworks lit up the sky. The ten sat outside their tent with a fire crackling away and James' Snitch flying around the group, to occasionally be grabbed out of the air by one of them.

"That's it," Sirius said. "Tomorrow we go home and then we have to start real life. Everyone looking forward to it?"

"Don't be a spoil-sport," Meg said, burying her head into his chest and closing her eyes. "I still feel like we'll be going back to Hogwarts in a month's time."

"I wish," Remus replied. He'd wanted the job of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher but Dumbledore had told him to leave it a few years.

"You don't really want that job, Moony," James said, playing with the ring on his fiancé's finger. "It's cursed."

"Right so in the meantime I get to sit around doing nothing while you all get jobs?"

"Why can't you get a job?" Stevie asked in confusion, being the only one there ignorant of Remus' problem. "It's not like teaching's the only thing out there that you could do."

"You won't be doing nothing," Jessie hastened to assure Remus. "You'll be working for the Order of the Phoenix."

"And what then? What about after the war?"

"You go back to Dumbledore," Peter shrugged as if it were the most obvious answer in the world.

Remus sighed and lay his head back on the grass. There was a long silence as everyone watched him, which was only broken when Lily shot out her hand, grabbing the Snitch and causing James to yelp in surprise.

"Good catch," he said.

She smiled back. "You've got to catch it when you can." She flickered her eyes back to Remus and leant over, handing him the small golden ball. "Don't let the opportunity pass you by because you're too busy planning ahead."

* * *

**AN: In case you didn't get it the French was basically: 'And now the Quaffle is thrown and the game commences.' and then later: 'The Seekers see the Snitch. D'Ouro of Portugal is closer but Kennedy of England is quick on his tail. They get closer... and Kennedy closes the gap! Who will catch it? D'Ouro dodges a Bludger from Bagman. Kennedy catches the Snitch. England win 190-120. England are in the final of the World Cup.'**


	2. Devils

**Devils**

"They're trying to ruin my wedding!" Marlene screamed in frustration.

"No, they're not, sweetie. They were trying to help," Beatrice Vance smoothed her hands over her daughter's hair reassuringly.

"Are you kidding me? They take my fiancé off on a stag do the night before our wedding and I bet they won't be back in time and they'll probably stop two of my bridesmaids from getting here as well and Merlin knows what else they'll ruin! They'll probably throw a bloody prank in the middle of the reception or something. And this... can't they get anything right? I asked for blue flowers! You can't have _red_ flowers at a wedding. Why would they get red flowers?"

"They were just picking up the order. It's not their fault the shop got it wrong," Marlene's sister, Emmeline, said as she dried her hair with her wand.

"I bet it is. They like ruining lives. They're devils in disguise."

"I hope you're not insulting your maid of honour's fiancé, Lena," a soft voice called from the door. Marlene span around and ran to Lily, pulling her into a hug, then grabbing Meg who was just coming into the room behind Lily.

"Merlin, you're here," she said, relieved.

"Calm down, Lene, the wedding's not for another three hours," Lily laughed. "Did you think we weren't going to get here?"

"I thought those bloody Marauders might have kidnapped you like they've kidnapped Stevie."

Meg bit her lip to stop herself from laughing as she led Marlene back to her chair and sat her down. "They wouldn't dare. Besides it was a stag party. No girls allowed."

"Lena, are these your flowers?" Lily asked brightly, observing the bouquet with an interest that only a girl preparing her own wedding could muster.

"Don't talk to me about the flowers. Your stupid boyfriend got red. I asked for _blue_."

Lily raised an eyebrow, then pulled out her wand, casting a quick charm over the flowers, turning them a mix of periwinkle and ocean blues.

Marlene gasped. "Lily, I love you," she said, her eyes welling up.

"I love you too, Mar, but honestly it wasn't that difficult. You need to calm down, okay? No crying until the actual service, please."

Marlene swallowed, holding her hand to her mouth as she nodded.

* * *

Meanwhile, seven men were collapsed on the floor of Sirius' flat. The four Marauders were in a heap, hitting and kicking one another whenever someone dared to move or snore. Stevie McKinnon was spread out on the sofa, a lop-sided crown on his head, and wearing a firewhiskey-stained top that declared 'I love my future wife'. His best man, Lewis Trotter was sitting on an armchair, his head drooping to the side as he slept soundly. The final man was Andrew Goldstein, just blearily waking, groaning as he looked around the room. Finally, his eyes fell on the clock. It was only nine o'clock, so he took a relived breath and started to go back to sleep, but then he remembered why he was in Sirius' flat in the first place. Stevie was getting married today. In less than three hours.

"Nuts," he muttered, calculating times quickly. They'd all need showers and he reckoned from seven years of dorm-sharing - combined with his knowledge of Sirius Black - that this alone would take over two hours for all of them. That was fine, they could all just go back to their own houses to shower. Then they needed to be at Stevie's house by half ten because that was when his parents would be coming to check how they were doing. And because they had to be at the church early, they would be expected to be more or less ready at this time.

"Everyone, wake up!" he shouted, throwing a pillow at the Marauders and jumping up.

"I'm awake," Lewis replied.

"Where's the fire?" Stevie muttered blearily. Andrew froze, staring at him disbelievingly.

"Er... McKinnon?" Sirius said, earning a kick from James as he sat up.

"What? Why do we need to get up? It's the weekend."

James now sat up too. "I seriously hope for your sake that you're joking because Marlene's like a sister to me and I'm very protective of her."

Stevie sat up suddenly, looking terrified. "I'm getting married today!"

"Yes you are," Andrew said. "In fact you're getting married in about three hours!"

"Sirius? What's that on your head?" Remus asked.

Sirius raised a hand to his head to find something pointy sticking out the top. He moved his hand across, finding a second. He slowly got up at looked in a mirror over the mantelpiece.

"You're a sexy devil," James commented.

Sirius started to laugh. "I'm horny! Get it, Prongs? I'm horny."

"Guys, we should really go and get ready. I'm showering at my own flat. Sirius, can I borrow some Floo Powder?" Andrew interrupted.

Sirius, who was just realising that his horns were charmed on, and not easily removable, didn't answer. Everyone else, however, nodded and started to get up.

* * *

With about forty-five minutes to go, James apparated to Vance Manor and was met immediately by Lily.

"Oh thank Merlin you're here. Everyone's okay? Nobody missing or too hung-over or anything?"

"We're okay, love. Padfoot had some... well it doesn't matter. Moony got them off in the end. Stevie's nervous but otherwise he's great. A few of us have taken hangover cures and we're good. You look amazing."

"Thank-you," Lily said, looking down at her silver dress. "So do you. New dress robes?"

James nodded, pulling at them awkwardly. "How's Lena?"

"She's freaking out. Wedding stress and pregnancy hormones don't mix. The flowers you picked up were the wrong colour and she was convinced you were the devil's advocates or something until I charmed them blue."

"I am the devil's advocate," James said with a grin. "I'll always be Sirius' biggest fan."

"When I said 'you', it was actually 'you' plural. All four Marauders. For kidnapping Stevie as well apparently."

"Well Sirius is the actual devil. You should have seen him this morning! These little red horns sticking out of his head, _literally_, and he saw himself in the mirror and said..."

James trailed off looking at Lily who stood with her arms crossed and one eyebrow raised. He nervously ran a hand through his hair. "Um... yeah, so anyway Moony got them off and the reason I came here was to let you know that we're all completely ready so we're off to the church."

"Right. I'll see you in under an hour then," Lily said, standing on tiptoes to peck him on the cheek carefully so as not to smudge her lipstick.

* * *

Marlene was shaking as she watched Lily start the walk down the aisle. Meg followed with a grace and serenity that she'd never shown before. Emmeline went next, walking carefully in heels that she would usually try to avoid at all costs. Finally, Marlene felt her father squeeze the arm he held and they started the walk down the aisle. Automatically, she started to scan the crowd before she let her eyes drift towards the front of the church. There were faces from the Ministry, faces from Hogwarts and family faces, among others.

She quickly found the two black-haired heads sandwiched between two light brown heads, all smiling at her lovingly. She felt bad for calling them devils. Maybe it was true that a lot of the time they felt the need to play too many pranks, but they really did care about her. They, James especially, were her brothers and she couldn't stay mad at them for long, especially knowing that her hormones had made her unreasonable. She resolved to thank them for offering to take Stevie on his stag night when his brother had owled to say he wouldn't be able to make it. He was here now though, she noted as her gaze reached the ushers at the front. She saw Andrew grinning at her madly and Lewis muttering in Stevie's ear as he waited patiently for the time that he would be able to look at her.

She reached him and he turned, his soft smile brightening the whole room.

**AN: This was my attempt to not make it either too fluffy or too dark, seeing as how a lot of the next chapters will probably be about the war.**


	3. Cold as Ice

**Cold as Ice**

James and Sirius walked slowly down Diagon Alley, under the Invisibility Cloak that now barely fit the two of them. They reached the end of the street, and stood looking up at the entrance to Gringott's Bank, as the person they'd been following entered.

"What now?" Sirius asked under his breath.

"Now we wait," James replied just as quietly. "He's got to come out again, hasn't he?"

"But what if he's gone in there to... I don't know."

"There's nothing we can do about it. Do you fancy trying to get past those goblins, even under the Cloak?"

Sirius shook his head and the two young men leant against a wall, making sure their feet were still fully hidden. They were on their first mission for the Order of the Phoenix, which was an organisation formed by Dumbledore to fight against Death Eaters, such as the one they were now waiting to emerge from the famous bank.

"So..." Sirius said, breaking the silence that had settled between them.

"Padfoot, if anyone hears us we're screwed," James reminded him.

"I know, I'm just bored. Besides there's nobody that near and the street's crowded enough to be too loud for anybody to overhear."

"I suppose," James said grudgingly. "What do you want to talk about?"

"What are we doing about the full moon on Thursday?"

James looked at Sirius in confusion. "What do you mean? We're running with Moony. What else would we do?"

Sirius frowned. "Do you think it will carry on working? Voldemort's after werewolves and it's going to get suspicious if we're always away on a full moon. We're working closer to Dumbledore now. He's bound to notice."

James glared at Sirius. "What are you suggesting, Padfoot? That we abandon Moony? You know we can't do that. We promised him."

"I know," Sirius replied gently. "I don't want to leave him alone. He was so much worse before we started to help. I just think we're starting to get into a delicate situation where everybody wants to know everybody else's business in case it's relevant to the war. It was hard enough at school when we only had to worry about Filch locking the door or clashes with Astronomy class. It's going to be so much more difficult now. What do we do if someone from the Order asks us to do something on a full moon night? We can't say, 'oh sorry, we're busy playing tag with a werewolf that night'."

"I think we should register. As Animagi," James said.

"We'll have to pretend to be learning and make it believable. It would be suspicious if we managed it too quickly. Most people take over three years."

James nodded in agreement and was about to reply when a tall figure walked out of Gringott's Bank. "We're on the move," he muttered. "Let Moony and Wormtail know."

Sirius was about to cast a Patronus to send a message to Remus and Peter when clouds appeared to move across, turning the sky black. Sirius frowned up at the sky, feeling suddenly chilly.

"That's weird," he said.

James shivered and shook his head. "Do you have a bad feeling about this?" he asked. He turned, looking up and down the street to see that the crowd had become lethargic, noise levels dropping. Some people seemed more affected than others. One girl even appeared to have fainted. He turned back just in time to see their Death Eater Disapparate and he swore quietly. He found himself thinking of things he'd tried to forget. Various Death Eater attacks resurfaced in his mind, along with memories of bullying Snape, times that all hope had seemed lost with Lily, worry for Sirius who'd turned up on his doorstep at sixteen, half-dead.

Remus and Peter ran around the corner and James just about gathered his thoughts in time to stick his hand out of the Invisibility Cloak for them to see. Next to him, Sirius had dropped to the floor, holding his head in his hands and causing James to crouch next to him, a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Remus walked up close to them, pretending to look at a poster on the wall behind them.

"Dementors," he muttered.

"Moony, don't kill me," Sirius groaned. Remus looked down in surprise, though he couldn't see what state his friend was in.

"Is the coast clear?" James asked shakily, feeling like his insides were freezing.

Remus looked over his shoulder, to Peter who was persuading shoppers to evacuate, and to further down the street where the Dementors were closing in. "Nobody will see you," he said, knowing that this was what James meant. James pulled the Cloak off, shoving it in his pocket with one hand as he kept the other firmly on Sirius' shoulder.

"Moony, help," he said, trying to lift Sirius to his feet. Remus came around to the other side of Sirius and pulled him up.

"Regulus. It was Regulus," Sirius said weakly. Remus and James exchanged worried looks.

"I know, Sirius. But you got him back, remember?" James said, struggling to remember happy memories himself to bring Sirius back to full mentality. He hardly even noticed Remus casting a Patronus.

"It must have hurt. I hit it pretty hard."

James sighed, realising that Sirius was right. They were wrong to have been so proud of Sirius' Bludger that had sent Regulus to the Hospital Wing in their last match against Slytherin. Regulus might have been seriously injured.

"No," Remus said harshly, looking at both of them. "Stop thinking negatively! They're nearly here. You need to cast your Patronuses."

James shook his head, unable to believe he would ever be able to cast a Patronus again. The world was so cold and he was never going to be happy again. Next to him, Sirius was now mumbling about his father, his breaths getting shorter and heavier as he got closer to his worst childhood memories.

"Stop it!" Remus snapped at them. "Think of Meg and Lily. Lily, James. You're going to marry her and have little messy-haired green-eyed babies and live happily ever after."

"She'll say no. She'll run away again."

"She already said yes," Remus said softly. "She's not going to run, James. She loves you."

James gasped as some of the ice in his heart melted a touch. He looked up at the Dementors, a flurry of memories breaking to the surface of his mind. He thought of Lily's Patronus dancing towards his.

"Expecto Patronum," he croaked. A silver stag burst out of his wand, charging at the Dementors. James suddenly felt so much better.

"Sirius," he said. Sirius didn't respond, his eyes flickering slightly, all his weight on Remus' shoulder. "Padfoot," James tried again. "Remember when Lita kissed me?"

"How will that help?" Remus asked incredulously.

"Trust me. Sirius, remember? She kissed me and you were jealous and stormed into my room."

Sirius glared at James.

"Good," James said, obviously encouraged by this reaction. "What did I tell you, Pads? When I came in?"

Sirius shook his head frowning.

"I told you that she liked you and wanted to make you jealous. I told you that she was the one for you."

"You were wrong," Sirius said hoarsely.

"No I wasn't. Think what that kiss meant, Sirius. I would never do it again, I love Lily too much. But that's what came from that kiss, Sirius. Lily admitted she likes me. You and Meg admitted you like each other. That kiss started made Sirius Black fall in love."

"Yes."

The one word came out of Sirius' mouth so quietly that Remus might not have believed he'd really said it, if at that moment he hadn't stood up straight and closed his eyes, breathing two words and blasting his dog Patronus out of his wand.

James and Remus both sighed in relief as their three Patronuses targetted the Dementors, along with the Patronuses of several other people in Diagon Alley. Peter joined them, his own rat Patronus looking small next to the others but causing just as much trouble for the Dementors as it glowed with the happiness the Marauders had given him. James could feel the cold leaving him completely as the Dementors backed away and the sky started to lighten again. Once they'd been driven away completely, the four men looked at each other glumly.

"We lost him," James said.

"I know," Remus sighed. "There wasn't anything we could do."

Sirius groaned, frustrated by his supposed weakness in the face of the Dementors. "I can't believe it. Our first mission for the Order and we've failed."

The other three all shushed him, glancing around nervously in case anybody had overheard the mention of the Order. They then caught sight of another Order member, Benjy Fenwick heading towards them.

"Tough luck, guys. We'll get a break with Travers eventually," he said, "but so far tracking him has been like trying to catch air. At least you have the excuse of the Dementor attack. Everyone else just lost him without any other distractions. Well done by the way, you did brilliantly with them. I've got to rush though. I'll see you tomorrow."

Benjy turned on the spot, disappearing with a loud crack, and leaving the Marauders standing there, James and Sirius looking rather ashamed of themselves and Remus and Peter looking on sympathetically.

"It's not your fault," Remus said softly.

"Why did they affect us more than you?" James asked desperately.

"I don't know," Remus replied. "You'd have to ask Dumbledore to be sure, but maybe it's something to do with the memories that they bring up. You two have worse memories than either of us and they all resurfaced at the same time. Then, you have some really strong happy memories that usually keep you stable but the Dementors get rid of them."

Sirius sighed and rubbed his head.

"Come on," Peter said. "I know what you need."

He started to walk off down the street.

"What?" Sirius called after him, noting that he was heading towards Florean Fortescue's.

"Chocolate ice cream!"

"He knows me so well," Sirius smiled.


	4. Warmth

**Warmth**

James sat by the fire in the flat he and Remus had been sharing since Hogwarts. Remus was talking to Dumbledore about his plans for the next full moon (omitting the help he was going to be getting from three certain friends). Lily was on a mission with Alice Longbottom for the Order and had promised to drop in before she went back to her father's house, where she was living until the wedding. He nervously cast a glance at the clock, then went back to staring into the flames of the fire that really did not need to be on considering the weather outside.

After a while of uninterrupted staring, the flames in the fireplace turned green. James immediately sat up straight, and was already standing and running over to hug the person who stepped out of the grate.

"Bloody hell, Prongs, I only saw you an hour ago. Did you miss me that much?"

James stepped away, running a hand through his hair awkwardly. "Oh," he said. "Sorry Padfoot. I thought you were Lily."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Thanks, Prongs. Mistaking me for a ginger girl. That makes me feel so good about myself."

James shook his head distractedly and took another glance at the clock. Sirius followed his eyes and frowned.

"She's not back yet?" he asked, feeling tension start to build. James opened his mouth to reply, but then shut it again, swallowed and shook his head, the distress in his eyes clear. Sirius hesitated, and then pulled his best friend back into the hug. "She'll be fine, mate. She's a fighter."

"That's why I'm worried," James choked. "She had to go and put herself in danger, didn't she? Maybe Snape was right. She'd be better off without me. I just lead her into these things. I _encouraged _her when I should have tried to talk her out of it."

Sirius narrowed his eyes. "Don't you _dare_ say that. Snape's an idiot. This is what Lily wants to do and you know better than anyone how stubborn she is. You wouldn't have been able to persuade her otherwise. You can't say she'd be better off without you, either because she's the one who's decided to spend even more time with you by marrying you. So shut up, okay?"

James was about to reply when the fire glowed green again. He turned around sharply and hopefully, but slumped in disappointment when he saw Remus.

"I'm flattered that you're so glad to see me, Prongs," Remus said sarcastically as Sirius bounced over, clapping him on the shoulder, leaving James to lean against the wall, his eyes still fixed on the clock.

"I got a much better reception," Sirius said. "At least I thought I had until he told me he'd thought I was Lily."

"Ah," Remus said, his eyes flickering over to the clock as well. "Yes Dumbledore mentioned that there'd been no word from her or Alice."

"Dumbledore didn't know anything?" James asked, desperately. Remus shook his head apologetically.

James ran a hand across his face. "They were meant to be back four hours ago," he moaned. "Doesn't she realise she's been away for over a week and this is killing me?"

"Of course she does, Prongs. She's just got held up and is too busy, or is hiding somewhere so that she can't send a message."

Remus' words didn't seem to comfort James, however, who started to pace impatiently, his gaze alternating between the clock and the fireplace.

Remus and Sirius shared a look but as the fireplace turned green for the third time in five minutes, they looked on anxiously with James. Peter looked quite shocked when his three friends greeted him with a groan.

"What did I do?" he asked, bewildered as he brushed the ashes off himself.

Sirius grinned at Peter. "Wormy!" he exclaimed, pulling him into a hug. "It's been ages since we've been just us four Marauders. You didn't do anything." He hesitated, looking over his shoulder at James who was now sitting on the floor biting his lip. Sirius lowered his voice to mutter to Peter "Lily's not back from her mission yet. She's very late."

"Oh," Peter said, his eyes widening. "He thought I was going to be her, didn't he?"

Sirius nodded, casting another concerned look to James, whom Remus had now sat down next to. Sirius and Peter joined them, forming a horseshoe shape, all facing the fireplace.

"It's really warm in here," Peter commented. "You do realise that the fire doesn't need to be lit for her to floo in, right?"

"It's quicker this way," James said flatly. They lapsed into a silence that would have been comfortable if it weren't for their anxieties about Lily.

Sirius soon started to fidget impatiently. Whilst James was too worried about Lily to think about anything else and Remus and Peter were quite good at sitting still with nothing to do, Sirius was used to having a constant stream of things to keep him away from boredom.

"I spy with my little eye something beginning with P," he said. The others all looked at him blankly. "It's a game," he told them. "You have to guess what I'm thinking of that I can see. It begins with P."

"Yes, Padfoot, we know it's a game," Remus said. "We were merely wondering why you wanted to play it."

"Because!" Sirius said, as though that explained everything. "This waiting is making me tense, and I'm bored as well and I keep thinking of Lily and Alice and how Frank's doing and what I'd do if Meg was ever late back from a mission, or one of you guys, and I can't deal with it so I needed something to take my mind off it."

Remus blinked in surprise at the outburst.

"Parchment?" suggested Peter. Sirius shook his head.

"Poster?" Remus tried.

"Plant?"

"Photo?"

"Potion?"

"Peppermints?"

"Padfoot," James said, speaking for the first time.

"No, Prongs, I'm not that egotistical. You're close though."

"Padfoot, what if she doesn't come back?"

Sirius sighed. "She will."

"It was Prongs, wasn't it?" Remus asked, rolling his eyes.

"Very good Moony," Sirius said. "Look, Prongs, I'm going to go and get us all a drink and we're going to stay here until Lily gets back which will be very soon and then we'll leave so that you can do whatever you do with her when we're not around."

"Shut up, you tosser," James said. Sirius grinned, patted James on the shoulder and jumped up, heading out into the kitchen.

"I spy with my little eye something beginning with... F!" Remus jumped as the fireplace changed to green once again.

James held his breath as a girl's head appeared, but let it go again as soon as he saw the brown hair.

"Hi guys, is Sirius here?" Meg asked. "I've been looking for him everywhere."

"Kitchen," Remus said shortly, eyeing James who was obviously starting to get annoyed by so many people who weren't Lily using the fireplace. Meg nodded. Her head disappeared with a pop and a few seconds later she had Apparated into their porch and let herself in.

"Sirius Orion Black!" she yelled, storming into the kitchen.

"Oh dear, what's he done now?" Peter asked James who shrugged.

They sat in silence listening to Meg shout at Sirius. From what they gathered, it appeared that Sirius had charmed Meg's bed so that if she slept in it alone then it would be terribly itchy.

"Well you should have taken me up on my offer to stay over, shouldn't you?" Sirius was saying as Peter stood up and wandered over to the window idly to watch as it got darker with the night drawing in.

"If she's not home soon it'll be unsafe for her to go out to get back to her dad's," he remarked. "Are you sure she didn't go straight there? If she had a rough time then she wouldn't want you to see her in a bad way."

James shook his head. "She'd send me an owl or a Patronus to let me know. Besides Remus said Dumbledore hadn't heard from either of them. So Alice is missing too."

"We could floo Frank," Remus suggested.

"No!" James snapped. "I'm not blocking up the floo network."

"There's no need anyway," Peter said, pointing out the window where a young tawny owl was headed their way. "Isn't that Frank's owl?"

James jumped up, pushing Peter out of the way to open the window and pull the owl in. He ripped the letter off as Remus gently took the owl over to his own owl's perch for some water.

"What's that?" Sirius asked, entering the room with one arm around Meg, who'd obviously forgiven him as they were both flushed.

"_Dear James,_" James read aloud. "_Have you heard from Lily at all? There's been no sign of Alice as of yet and nobody I've managed to talk to knows anything. I don't want to floo Dumbledore because Alice is likely to come home that way. Please let me know, Frank Longbottom."_

"They're missing?" Meg asked, becoming aware of the fact for the first time. James sank into a chair, handing the letter over to Remus who immediately started to reply.

"Oh, I forgot the drinks," Sirius said, cursing.

"I'll get them," Peter offered, heading into the kitchen. James followed glumly, giving Sirius a slight glare beforehand.

"He's such a child sometimes." Sirius rolled his eyes.

"What do you mean?" Meg asked. Remus looked up from the letter in confusion.

"Lily's missing so he's mad. And he's going to blame me because I was the first here and probably partly because you're here and he's jealous because I know you're safe and he doesn't know about Lily."

Meg sighed. "Well, I'd better go then. You'll come round to mine later?"

Sirius shook his head. "You're coming round to mine," he corrected. "I'm not spending another night worrying about your parents walking in on us." He pecked her on the lips and she started towards the fire. At that moment, though, it grew greener for the fifth time that evening. Remus, who was at the window letting the owl go again, didn't notice anything as Meg squeaked and Sirius stepped on her foot, raising his finger to his lips.

"I spy," he said in a loud voice. "With my little eye, something beginning with L."

Remus turned around, and opened his mouth into a grin, before frowning and turning back to the owl which had already flown off.

"It's not your go, Pads," James called through the door.

"I know," Sirius said. "But I spy."

"What are you..." James gasped as he came into the room. "Lily!"

He ran across and picked her up in his arms, not caring that she was covered in filth and ashes.

"Hey, Moony, Wormy, you guys haven't been to my flat in ages!" Sirius said quickly. "Come over now." He grabbed Meg's hand and Apparated straight out of the room, Remus and Peter following shortly behind. James hardly noticed his friends had gone, instead kissing every single cut on Lily's face.

"James, it's boiling in here," she said weakly. "Why've you got the fire burning?"

"I was worried about you," he said, flicking a wand to put the flames out, then pulling her face back to his.

"I'm fine," she muttered against his lips. "I'm with you now, so I must be fine."


	5. Light and Dark

**Light and Dark**

"Nox."

His wand dimmed with a whisper, shutting him into darkness as he eased open the door. Sirius stepped over the threshold into the house, holding his breath as anti-intruder spells sent a shiver down his spine. He felt them seep away, accepting him as family, and he quickly got to work breaking them to allow James in. He hesitated when he'd finished and turned to give James an uncertain look.

"That might have done it," he hissed. James nodded, stepping away from the Muggle street lamp, a shadow falling across his face as he joined his best friend. He felt nervous as he stepped through the door. They were conducting an unofficial self-assigned mission and nobody knew where they were. If Sirius had botched the curse-breaking and they were caught, there would be no escape.

He didn't feel the telling tingle of spells working on him as he crept far enough into the hallway for Sirius to close the door, only just avoiding knocking over an umbrella stand by the door. He let out a small sigh of relief, then looked to Sirius for guidance of where to go next. Still walking through the darkness, they approached the stairs and carefully started to climb, using their wands to make their footsteps silent and to prevent any steps from creaking. They kept on walking up the stairs until they reached the uppermost landing. There were no windows up here and so no moonlight entering the house to give them light. Sirius put a silencing charm on the stairs so that anybody lower down in the large house would not be able to hear them. James cast a dim non-verbal _Lumos_ and pointed it around the landing. There were two doors. At first James thought they would be going into the one room, by the way that Sirius was staring at the closed door, but he abruptly turned and knocked softly on the other door.

"What the _hell?_" a voice replied straight away. "It's three in the bloody morning."

"Yeah, well it's not like you're asleep, is it?" Sirius replied.

There was a pause. "Dad, fuck off, I'm busy."

"I sound like Dad now, do I?"

The door swung open. "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" Regulus hissed.

Sirius grinned. "Visiting my favourite brother of course. Well... fourth favourite brother. Sorry but James, Remus and Pete have you beat on that."

James snorted, earning a glare off the younger Black.

"You'd better go, traitor, before our dear Mother finds you," Regulus told Sirius.

"_Our_ mother?" Sirius asked. "I was under the impression I didn't have a mother anymore. That's what she told me at Uncle Alph's funeral, anyway."

"You shouldn't have gone there," Regulus shook his head.

"Why not? He was my uncle too, Reg! He meant more to me than he ever did to you. Besides someone had to tell our dear mother where half his money had gone..."

Regulus opened his mouth to retort and James quickly stepped in. "Guys, please. Just be civil. Can't we just do what we came to do and then go home? I'd rather not risk Remus, Lily or Meg discovering that we're gone and the longer we're out, the more likely that is to happen."

Sirius nodded as Regulus narrowed his eyes. "What did you come here to do?" he asked.

"To talk to you," Sirius responded, edging closer to his brother.

"Have you dumped the Mudblood yet?"

Regulus stayed where he was, calmly staring at the two older boys who were now both pointing their wands at him.

"Don't call her that," Sirius growled warningly.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was under the impression you wanted to talk to me, but if you're going to threaten me in my own home, I reckon I'm not feeling that hospitable."

They both froze and then Sirius slowly lowered his wand, James following his lead. "Please, Reg?" Sirius whispered.

Regulus frowned slightly, observing his brother. He looked behind him into his room, bit his lip, then appeared to come to a decision. He stepped out into the corridor, closing his door behind him and crossed the landing until he reached the other door up there. As he put his hand on the doorknob Sirius shook his head.

"Why in there? What's wrong with your room?"

"I still want my privacy, Sirius. I might be agreeing to talk to you but you're not coming in my room. Besides this should be more comfortable for you shouldn't it? Own territory?"

Sirius snorted but didn't reply. The three boys entered the room and James grinned when he saw the decor.

"Dad came in to throw everything out after you left," Regulus said quietly. "He wasn't very happy when he discovered you'd used underage magic to stick it all to the walls."

Sirius shrugged indifferently, looking around the room glumly. Obviously his rebellious covering of the walls of his bedroom in Gryffindor colours and posters of half-naked Muggle women did not bring back as much happiness as the depression of being back in the house, even if he would be leaving again almost straight away. Regulus sat himself down in the desk chair and looked to the other two expectantly. Sirius seemed suddenly unwilling to move so James grabbed his elbow and pulled him over to sit on the edge of the bed opposite Regulus.

"So," Regulus looked squarely at his brother, raising an eyebrow.

"Defer."

Regulus' mouth dropped open. "Why?" he asked.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I'd have thought the answer to that was obvious."

"Right you want more people on your side. But why come to me in the middle night instead of targeting the people in your own office who are on the fence?"

"No, dumbass," Sirius said. "I'm asking you to defer because you're my brother and despite everything I fucking love you and don't like seeing you mixed up in Dark magic."

"Come over to the dark side, we have sugar quills," Regulus said tauntingly. "I'm so touched that you love me Sirius. Shame the sentiment isn't reciprocated."

"Reg, please," Sirius begged, his voice cracking.

"You want me to die, _brother?_"

"Of course not. But you're only seventeen. You'll be at Hogwarts for another year. Dumbledore will protect you. You have just as much chance of dying on your side as on ours. Possibly more. But you _know_ which one's the right side to be on. I know you do."

"Right," Regulus nodded bitterly. "The 'light' side. Yours. But something you've never been able to grasp, Sirius, is that not everything is black and white. In fact very few things are. There's an awful lot of grey in the middle."

Sirius frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that your side isn't as perfect as you think it is. And maybe mine isn't that bad."

Sirius sucked in a breath of air and turned his head away, his hand raising to his head to run through his hair nervously. James automatically slapped it down again, a curious role-reversal from the year before. Regulus noticed this and a chuckle slipped out between his lips.

Sirius turned back to Regulus and leaned forwards, saying, "fine, stay on your lovely dark side. But know that it _is_ that bad and don't come crying to me when you do see sense."

"See, Sirius?" Regulus returned. "This is why I say that your side isn't perfect. If I deferred then I would have _both_ sides after me, because the Dark Lord wouldn't let me go easily and you lot wouldn't accept me. You'd be suspicious of me. You'd be mad that I chose the Death Eaters to start with. I mean, remember your reaction? That Bludger kept me in the Hospital Wing for two weeks."

"You were sixteen!"

"Not old enough to make my own decisions? Remind me, Sirius, how old were you when you ran away? When you left your little brother who you love so much here alone with our parents - the people you felt so badly that you needed to escape from."

Sirius remained silent, staring at his knees.

"So you see, Sirius, it doesn't matter what my thoughts might be now. Everyone judges me on what I've already done."

"So you've changed your mind?" Sirius asked hopefully.

Regulus looked at him sadly, his eyebrows furrowing slightly. Slowly he shook his head. "No," he whispered.

Sirius swallowed and turned to James. "No point wasting any more time here, then?" he said. James nodded sympathetically. Sirius rose and walked straight out of the room. James lingered, studying Regulus carefully.

"So why are you here then?" Regulus asked finally.

"Sirius is my brother. You're his brother. That's got to mean something, right?"

Regulus blinked, a pain flashing across his eyes. Eventually he stuck his hand out. James' mouth twitched into a smile as he shook it.

"I hope we never meet again," Regulus said softly. "It would be a pain to have to kill you."

James laughed. "Same. Bye little brother."

"Yeah, bye, James."

James grinned at Regulus. "You know I think you're right. Things in this world aren't completely black. Not even you or Sirius. You've got the wrong surname."

"There's light in every dark," Regulus said. James nodded and left Regulus alone in his brother's old room. The rest of the house was clothed in darkness as James and Sirius snuck back down the stairs without any light, but Regulus remained with the light of his wand reflecting off the gold Gryffindor banners. He looked at them sadly. Sirius had always been the brave one. Regulus was the Slytherin who would rather save his own neck than his humanity. He hated himself for it.


	6. Help

**AN: apologies for a long gap since my last chapter. Exams and holidays which don't have free internet are annoying. As is writer's block.**

**Help**

Sirius finished the report he was working on and glanced at the clock, repressing a sigh of relief when he saw that it was five o'clock. He stood and left his booth, saying a quick farewell to his colleague who shared a desk with him and waving a hand at the secretary to let her know he was leaving. He left his office in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and got in a lift to go to the Atrium. He had to be honest and say he hated his job. He had only applied for that particular department in the hope of making rights fairer for Remus, not realising either how boring it would be to write reports on the constant complaints of goblins or how high up he would have to climb on the career ladder before he could actually make any difference for his friend.

Flooing home, Sirius was surprised to find his sitting room already occupied. Lily was sat cross-legged on the floor, flicking through some pamphlets and Marlene lay on his sofa, a plate of ham resting on her baby bump.

"It's a criminal offence to trespass," Sirius commented, looking over at the record player in confusion as he heard unknown music playing.

"Meg let us in," Lily said, writing in the margin of one of the pamphlets.

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "This isn't Meg's flat. Where is she, anyway?"

"Right here," Meg replied from the doorway.

"I knew I shouldn't have given you a key," Sirius told her. She stuck her tongue out at him and sat down next to Lily, reaching up to steal some ham off Marlene, but getting her hand slapped away.

Sirius sat in a chair, bewildered as he looked at all the papers surrounding the three girls.

"What are you doing?" he asked eventually.

"Wedding planning," Lily replied shortly.

"This was the only empty flat we could use," Meg elaborated. "Lily's sister is staying at her dad's and my family is annoying and Lenie didn't want to have to host."

"It's not hosting. You lived together for seven years," Sirius grumbled. "We just planned Rapunzel's wedding, why do we have to plan another?"

"Because _I'm _marrying your best friend," Lily said. "The weddings can't be the same."

Sirius shook his head in exasperation. "But your wedding's not for ages! I don't understand girls. A wedding's a wedding. All of them are ridiculously long and boring and everyone gets drunk off mead and champagne. What is there to plan?"

Lily and Marlene exchanged pointed looks. Meg sighed and Sirius looked at her inquisitively but she soon laughed and sat up on her knees to kiss his cheek.

"A man after my own heart," she said, settling back down on the floor and picking up a brochure. "This cutlery set is nice, Lils."

Lily shook her head. "Too plain. It looks like the cutlery I have at home."

Sirius observed them in mystification as they argued over cutlery and place settings and flowers. The unknown music played in the background, the beat bouncy and the lyrics seeming to reflect Sirius' own thoughts. _Help, I need somebody._ He needed James to be here – some testosterone who would agree with his thoughts on marriage. On second thoughts, maybe James wasn't who he needed. Neither Remus nor Peter would agree with him either. He was struggling to actually think of somebody who would.

"What is this music?" he asked, interrupting a discussion on veils.

"The Beatles," Meg responded. "They're a Muggle band."

"It's good," Sirius said. The girls ignored him and carried on talking.

"Lena, will you help me practise walking with the train?" Lily asked. Marlene stared at her.

"Like this?" she asked, pointing at her tummy.

Lily rolled her eyes. "No, you'll have already had the baby by the time we get around to trying dresses, remember?" Marlene relaxed, nodding.

Sirius sighed slowly, tapping his fingers to the beat of the music, wishing that the girls – Lily and Marlene especially – would leave soon. He grinned when the fire glowed green and James stepped out of it.

"Prongs!" he nearly yelled. "Help me!"

James took a small step back in surprise, then jumped forwards again, stamping on the bottom of his robes which had just caught fire. He looked confused by the presence of the three girls and turned to Sirius for an explanation.

"They're planning your wedding. It's not for ages and they're arguing over cutlery! In _my _flat. You need to save me, please."

James' mouth curled into a snigger and pulled Lily to her feet, winking at Sirius to let him know that everything was under control. "Do I get to help plan, love?" he asked Lily, who smiled at him and kissed him tenderly.

"Of course you do," she said.

"So, can we go back to mine to plan? I have a batch of my mum's chocolate orange biscuits."

"Really?" Marlene's plate fell to the floor as she sat up too fast. "I love those."

James nodded, smirking and gave Marlene a hand up. Lily gathered the papers off the floor.

"Megs, I know you're not as into this planning as me," she said to Meg. "You don't have to come now if you don't want. If I need you I can floo you."

Meg grinned from where she lay on the floor, now flat on her back. "Thanks, Lils."

Once Marlene and Lily had both flooed off to James' house, James turned back to Sirius. "Better?" he asked.

"Perfect. Thanks, Prongs, mate," Sirius replied, reaching his foot out to prod Meg's tummy with his toe. She swatted at his foot and sat up so that she could dig her fingers into his side.

"Happy to help," James replied, grinning and shaking his head as he threw a handful of floo powder into the fireplace.


	7. Broken

**Broken**

Pre-war, Marlene had never believed in superstitions. But here she was staring at the mirror, worried out of her mind about the crack down the middle of it. Seven years of bad luck. Just what she needed. She'd already had her fair share of bad luck, she thought, with being the daughter of the Minister for Magic, the best friend of two muggle-borns and two blood traitors, and getting herself pregnant at eighteen during a war in which she and all her friends, including her husband, had dedicated their lives to fighting in.

Her internal sarcasm at least helped to make the situation a little lighter as she left the room, being careful to avoid the glass on the floor and waddled down the stairs to the sitting room where she collapsed into a chair, her hand resting on her bump. Everybody was at an Order meeting and she was feeling pretty frustrated at being told that she shouldn't be involving herself in that two weeks away from her due date. A glance at the clock, though, told her that as long as Moody hadn't gone off on another one of his over-detailed tirades about security then they should be back soon. Stevie would be going straight to work, but Sirius, James and Lily had promised to check in with her beforehand.

After reading part of the Daily Prophet and feeling depressed how little of the war it was publicising, Marlene sighed and tossed the paper to the side. She groaned as she tried to pull herself to her feet, but then gave up and let herself relax back into the chair, resorting to staring at the wall opposite her, brooding over the broken mirror.

There was a knock at the door and Marlene, deciding that getting up was too much effort, simply shouted, "it's open!"

Sirius walked into the room frowning at her. "You shouldn't do that," he told her. "What if I was a Death Eater?"

"But you're Sirius," she said slowly.

Sirius rolled his eyes and perched on the arm of her chair to pull her into a hug as James went into the kitchen and started to make up some tea and Lily sat down on the sofa.

"I know I'm Sirius, Lena, but how do _you_ know that?"

"Because I've known you since I was eight."

Sirius contemplated arguing further with her but evidently concluded that it was more hassle than it was worth. Soon, the baby would be born, Marlene would be back to more reasonable thinking, and she'd have another person to be responsible for and keep safe.

There was a clatter in the other room, a long pause and then James shouted, "Lenie? How much did you like that red mug?"

"Which mug?"

"The red one."

"Yes, but," Marlene sighed and pulled herself up, "I have more than one."

She started to walk to the doorway, but stopped suddenly when she felt water trickling down her leg.

"Lenie?" Sirius asked her in concern.

"I think my water just broke."

James appeared in the doorway, holding a mug that had clearly been repaired by magic and stared at Marlene in shock. Lily looked between the two men, both gawping uselessly.

"Oh for Merlin's sake," she said, taking control of the situation effortlessly. "Sirius, go and floo Stevie and the Vances and anyone else who needs to know. James, get to Saint Mungo's and let them know we're on the way. I'll get the baby bag. Marly, you can sit down, okay? I'll sort everything out for you."

Marlene nodded, sitting back down. James and Sirius caught each other's eyes, hesitating until Lily glared at them both pointedly and James Disapparated with a crack whilst Sirius hurried to the fireplace. Lily ran up the stairs and grabbed the bag from the baby's new nursery that had been set up for the past few weeks. She then crossed into Marlene's room to get some clothes for her, but she faltered as she entered the room and saw the mess on the floor.

"Mar, what happened to the mirror?" she called.

"My magic's messed up. I was trying to polish it and it broke."

"So why didn't you..." Lily shook her head exasperatedly, knowing not to push it. "_Reparo_," she muttered. The glass shards returned to the mirror and it mended. She ran back down the stairs and entered back into the living room.

"Are we ready?"

It wasn't the right question – they didn't feel as if they would ever feel _ready _for this, but even so they were happy it was happening and it was with shaky smiles and tightly gripped hands that they headed off to Saint Mungo's.


	8. Smile

**Smile**

A baby usually smiles properly for the first time between six and eight weeks. That is, then is when they first respond to people smiling at them, and through a process of mirror neurons and reflexes, they smile back. Before then, they might smile randomly and in their sleep, as no reflection of their emotion, but simply because it is instinctive and innate. A baby born blind will still smile even though they have not seen it themselves. Despite this, however, despite knowing that it is only a reflex and nothing more, it could still give a parent no more joy when they first see their baby's smile.

* * *

The new-born slept in Marlene's arms and Marlene couldn't tear her eyes away, other than for a brief few seconds as her husband settled next to her on the hospital bed, put an arm around her and leant his chin on her shoulder where they both could gaze at their daughter.

"She's so beautiful," Stevie said softly, breaking a silence that wasn't really there with all the other babies and families in the maternity ward.

"She's so little," Marlene replied. "She's too little."

Stevie shook his head. "No, she's perfect. Healthy, beautiful and _ours_."

Marlene wasn't going to argue with that and they settled back into a comfortable silence. This was interrupted again soon after with the opening of the door. Lily poked her head around the door and Marlene smiled up at her, beckoning her over. The bed was quickly surrounded, four Marauders with uncharacteristically soppy smiles and each of their girlfriends cooing over the little girl.

"Lil, you're godmother," Marlene said without any pre-amble. Everyone paused and looked at Marlene.

"She is?" Stevie asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Lena, thank-you," Lily said slowly, clearly trying to stop herself from squealing. She broke out into a grin, gave Marlene a quick kiss on the forehead and then did the same to the baby.

"Of course she is," Marlene said to Stevie, passing the baby to Lily. "You got to pick Andrew for godfather, did you not?"

Sirius pouted. James took one look at his expression and snorted. "Like they'd pick you. Who'd want you to be a godfather?"

Sirius grinned. "You."

"I don't need a godfather, I'm eighteen."

"I bet ten galleons you won't pick me as your first child's godfather."

Lily's eyes widened. James smiled smugly. "Deal," he shook Sirius' hand. "I'd go for Moony anyway. He's the most responsible of us."

Sirius smirked "Better get that money ready, Potter."

Lily groaned and James looked at her in confusion. "What...?"

"You don't _listen, _do you?"

James paused and thought back over the conversation. Sirius bet that he wouldn't pick him as... _wouldn't. _"You..." he spun to face his laughing best friend, leaving his sentence unfinished when Marlene hissed at him. He shrugged. "You're right, I probably would go for you anyway."

Sirius punched the air, ignoring the amused looks he was getting off Meg and Lily.

Remus chuckled, now holding the baby. He looked at her square in the face, though she still slept. "Uncle Sirius is stupid, isn't he?" he told her. "But he'll realise what he's just done eventually."

Sirius looked at Remus suspiciously. "Stop talking to the baby and hand her over," he demanded at length. He softened once she was in his arms. "What are you going to call her?" he asked. Marlene shrugged.

"We thought she was going to be a boy. All our names are boy names," Stevie explained.

"What names did you have?" Lily asked. "You might be able to go for a female version."

"Alvin and Harry and then we considered Taylor, because it was my mother's maiden name."

"_Alvin?" _Sirius handed the baby to James, having nearly dropped her.

"It's my uncle's name," Marlene said, sounding a little offended.

"Harry's a nice name," Lily mused. She caught James' eye and he looked down at the baby in his arms.

"It wouldn't suit her," he said sincerely, and then he mouthed the words _Harry Potter, _trying them for size.

"Just steal our name, sure," Marlene said reaching up to get James to give her back her daughter.

"I wasn't!" he said indignantly. "Just... You do realise that Taylor's a unisex name, right?"

"Like Elvendork," Sirius added helpfully. James chuckled.

"Taylor Marlene McKinnon," Stevie said, running a hand lightly over the baby's head.

"I like it," Marlene said. "I like Harry James Potter as well," she added, looking meaningfully at Lily.

"We're not having any children yet," Lily said with a smile, idly playing with her engagement ring.

"Taylor," repeated Marlene, looking down at the girl. The baby let out a small sigh, a smile forming on her lips, before she gurgled and her eyes slowly opened. "I think she likes it too."

The group all smiled at that one tiny girl, so sure that Taylor could have a good life to look forward to, despite the war.

"Oh, no," Sirius groaned, slapping his hand to his forehead. "Did I just agree to pay to be a godfather?"


	9. Once in a Lifetime

**AN: I don't know what this is. The prompt was stressing me out because I couldn't think of anything.**

**Once in a Lifetime**

It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. That's what in had said in the advert. But, for Remus Lupin it was more than that. It was a last chance.

Everyone else had a job. Sirius might have hated his job at the Ministry and James might have been a bit disgruntled to begin with to not make any better than a reserve for the Tutshill Tornados, but they were both supporting themselves. Stevie might have been working ridiculous hours for not much pay in the administration department of the Daily Prophet and Lily might have still been paying her way through Healer training but they both had something to do with their time. Meg was already on her way to success in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, though she was still trying to get a foot into the door of the Department of Mysteries. Marlene was on maternity leave, but as soon as she didn't need to be she'd be going back to her job in the hairdresser's on Diagon Alley. Peter was on his fifth job since Hogwarts, but every time he lost a job (usually thanks to Sirius getting bored in his lunch hour – something that Remus' job had soon turned into trying to prevent) he easily found another. Jessie was living her dream with her job editing at Witch Weekly and Peter's girlfriend, Diddy, too was happy with her apprenticeship at a restaurant in Ottery St Catchpole. Remus, on the other hand, was still chronically unemployed. Every time he got close to looking like he might get a job, the employers did the routine background checks and then decided that he 'just wasn't right for the job'. It was obvious what they meant, though. They didn't want a werewolf amongst their staff.

Remus had finally resorted to Muggle jobs, but everywhere was suspicious about his lack of school. He insisted that he'd been home-schooled and when they asked for his parents' details to check this he winced and left again. He knew that he could have just given his uncle's details and explain that he was an orphan, but he was already lying to them and admitting that one truth hurt too much.

So, when he had seen the advert in the newspaper, he immediately apparated around to Lily's house. With Mr Evans looking on curiously, surely wondering when he would finally get his house free of all his daughter's strange friends, Remus rang the number printed in the paper. "Hello? Hello, my name is Remus Lupin. I'm ringing about this extraordinary research opportunity mentioned in the Times."

"Oh, I'm sorry, sir, that advert wasn't meant to go to print."

Remus grimaced. He had wondered if something like this would happen. "Is the position no longer available, then?" he asked.

"I'm afraid the position involves a matter of top security."

Remus snorted. "Of course it does," he said condescendingly, then dropped his voice, turning away from Lily's father. "Now, this child. The ad said that he encountered an animal bite, and it's doing strange stuff to him. What animal was this?"

"I'm sorry sir, I cannot reveal that."

"Really?" Remus said dryly. "What if I told you that I might have been in a very similar situation about thirteen years ago? And that it still affects me to this day."

There was a silence on the other end of the phone. "Mr Lupin, would you like to come for an interview sometime this week?"

Remus grinned. "It would be my pleasure."

Remus left the office with a smile. It was a Muggle doctor who had a young patient, now a werewolf. For some reason the Ministry hadn't picked up on the situation and the doctor had been trying to work out what was happening himself. Remus was careful not to reveal anything about the wizarding world, and was glad to see that the doctor was so desperate that he did not bother asking for credentials. Remus found himself hired as a personal advisor to young Tommy, and now he could get him the proper help he needed. He was glad that finally he had found a job that needed the experience that usually prevented him from getting jobs. It really had been a once in a lifetime opportunity.


End file.
